Shinra Inc And Game Ethics
by Micah Rodney
Summary: S6E3 - Rufus is assigned to help the Shinra Inc. App Development program and has to come up with ways for them to make more money. This fic skewers MMO subscriptions, DLC, Season Passes, Premium Currency and Pre-Ordering. A little light-hearted catharsis for the modern blights of the gaming industry.


**Shinra Inc. And Game Ethics**

By: Jason Tandro

Rufus lay back in the reclining chair, feeling the firm smooth leather against his hands. It was pricey, but it was worth every gil he'd spent for it. The door to his office opened and the brief ecstasy brought on the by lavish butt-holder washed away as Palmer strolled in with his hands full of folders.

"Palmer, what do you want?" Rufus asked, stroking the arms of his chair impatiently.

"Well, er, President Reeve would like you to help out with Scarlet's new app development team. He says there is a good opportunity for you there," Palmer explained.

Rufus grimaced. He'd been forced out of his own company and then hired back at this meager position due to financial burden. Sure it was the Number Two spot in the company, but as Rufus always said "if you're not number one, you're just shit."

"And he wasn't bothered to tell me this himself?" Rufus demanded, now annoyed to the point where no amount of leather groping would bring him back down.

"Well he is rather busy," Palmer said. "But I am here to help you get transitioned into the new assignment."

Rufus stood up, storing away in the back of his mind how easily the chair glided up with him to help him stand easier, and walked over to Palmer with fury in his eyes. "The day I ask you for help is the day I choose to commit suicide by being crushed by a fat bastard."

He wrenched the folders out of Palmer's meaty fingers and made his way out the door, moving towards the stairs. He would see exactly how busy Reeve was and why he was foisting his busywork onto some poor lackey (poetic justice was a concept unfamiliar to Rufus). He bounded up the elaborate winding stairs to what was erstwhile his office. Reeve was busy prodding his pen through a stack of papers.

"Rufus?" Reeve asked. "Did you have some questions about your assignment?"

"Yeah as a matter of fact I did," Rufus began. He slammed his open palms down on the desk but as they were covered in stacks of folders they landed with a soft thud, making this gesture far less dramatic. "Where do you get off sending Palmer to fetch me for something?"

"I thought you'd like the change of pace. And Palmer was the only person available on the Directorial Staff. I suppose you'd prefer I send my secretary instead?" Reeve asked.

"The secretary would be less demeaning to take orders from," Rufus insisted. "Besides she's eye candy. Palmer is a guy who ate too much candy."

"Okay, I'll make a mental note to stop sending fat people to your office. I'll devote time and energy to make sure that only the most luscious women provide you with the tasks that I assign. Now if I do all of that, would you actually do the work I give you or is this going to be a constant take and take?" Reeve asked.

"Don't you mean give and take?" Rufus asked.

"I'm waiting patiently for that to be the appropriate term," Reeve replied.

"Look, I don't know jack about app development. I have played many video games, that's about it," Rufus said.

"Well you have to do something here. When I leave you to your own devices you do things that distract everybody," Reeve retorted.

"You're still mad about the hamster wheel bowling aren't you?" Rufus insisted.

Reeve pushed past this. "That is why I gave you this do nothing job. You go in and you pitch an idea here or there. You have experience playing video games. Plus, this may surprise you but I actually think you know how to make money pretty well. You just have no discipline when it comes to spending it."

Rufus begrudgingly flipped through the folder he'd taken from Palmer and looked through it, helping himself to a seat opposite Reeve.

"So you just want me to serve as a consultant then?" Rufus asked.

"Yes. I assume you didn't read the folder because-"

"Palmer."

"Right… well would you mind hopping to it then? I am trying to prepare for the chaos of this year's expenses," Reeve asked.

"Fine, fine, fine," Rufus groaned. "Just because I like you so much I'll go pester Scarlet instead."

==Shinra Inc. And==

Rufus casually entered Scarlet's office without knocking like he owned the place (because he used to) and took a seat down across from her. He opened his folder and began perusing the documents within apparently not noticing that Scarlet was staring daggers at him.

"Hi Rufus," Scarlet said sarcastically. "Can I get you something? Tea? Coffee? A hooker?"

"Have a hooker bring me coffee," Rufus grunted back. "I am here to help you because Reeve says so."

"I know. I'm just wondering why you're here and not downstairs with the App Development folks. I still run the Weapons Development department too you know," Scarlet said.

"Handling the boredom okay?" Rufus asked. "I mean since we went green we have a lot less terrorist threats on our reactors."

Scarlet shrugged. "Eh, kinda. I made a gun that shoots gil."

"A money gun?" Rufus asked. "What purpose would that serve?"

"When you're way in the back but still want to tip your stripper, I don't know Rufus," Scarlet sighed. "To be honest App Development is a cheap joke of a department. We make a game, people buy that game. Then apart from maybe some merchandising if the game is a hit the moneypool dries up damned quick. The Used Game market is cutting into our profit and then there's piracy to contend with."

"Yeah that must be awful," Rufus sighed. "How much money are we losing from those?"

"Drop in the bucket, but it's the principle damn it!" Scarlet exclaimed. "How did you make money so well. You know before you-"

"Before I spent us into the poorhouse, yes," Rufus interrupted, not wanting to hear the same hurtful truth twice in one day. "What you need to do is find some way to charge people for something they've already paid for. Treat gaming like a utility. You know how MMOs have that subscription fee?"

"Yeah, but that makes sense, you're paying for a service," Scarlet explained.

"It's a crock of shit, Scarlet. You paid for the game, the game was designed around massive multiplayer content. They say the sub fee is to cover server costs. You know I looked into that and like 4% of the money they take in from sub fees actually goes to handle server costs. Another 25%, fine, goes to pay their staff. They're raking in a nearly 70% profit and you know what - that's fine because that's the model that players are willing to pay for. If they upped the subscription fee and players were still willing to pay it that means the players have added value to the cost of each subscription. And the big joke here? Value is added by the consumer, not by the producer," Rufus pontificated. "In short, you don't get what you pay for. You pay for what you want."

"That's a fascinating economy lesson, but how do we apply it?" Scarlet asked.

"Remember what you were doing with that Pockymons thing a while back? You know the game that ruined my life?" Rufus asked.

[Author's Note: See Shinra Inc. And AR Games]

"Vividly. Selling out premium currency. And that's been lucrative… especially from you. But it eventually plateaus. We have to get new subscribers to the game and that number dwindles eventually. Especially since the game isn't very good any more…"

"So? Make a new game," Rufus said. "Do the exact same thing. People will buy more premium currency for that game. The cycle continues. But what you really need is something that will force players of a game to shell out big bucks for something that is pretty much mandatory."

Scarlet pondered. "Well we're releasing a new fantasy game that we've been working on for a really long time now. Well the developer has, we just bought them out. It's almost ready but there is some side story content that isn't quite up to snuff yet."

"Side story? You mean bonus content," Rufus explained.

"Well it's kind of crucial to understand what happens in the story-"

"Bonus content," Rufus cajoled. "Think about it. You please the fans by releasing their long awaited game and then tantalize them with the promise of even more content incoming and all they have to do is pay a small fee to get the goods. Or they can pay one lump sum and be guaranteed all the new content. And maybe give people who buy this lump sum package a nice hat or something."

"Would players be dumb enough to buy into a system like this? Paying full price for essentially half a game?" Scarlet asked.

"Of course they would!" Rufus explained. "Players are dipshits who will staunchly defend anything their developer of choice does as innovative and even nay-sayers will have no other option. And for those who refuse to hold out, wait a few years and then release the game with all the content included and a small update and charge full price again. The naysayers will feel "smart" for having "waited" and the fans will be excited to buy a new version of the same game. Meanwhile we line our pockets with gold."

"Okay that's all well and good but we're worried we might not even have enough money to finish the game. We need an influx of cash now," Scarlet groaned.

Rufus rubbed his chin. "Now that I can't help you with. I mean you could sell merchandise to hype the game but that would only go so far."

The two sat pondering for a moment.

"What if there was a way to get players to purchase a game before it is out?" Scarlet asked.

"That would be ludicrous," Rufus said. "Players are stupid, but would they honestly be dumb enough to pay full cost for something they don't get to have for a long time?"

"No, you see we take your idea and we expand it," Scarlet said. "We call it… pre-ordering. This guarantees a copy of the game to the people who preorder the day it releases and we give them a special in-game bonus like a nice weapon or something. That gives them a false sense of added value."

"I don't know. That seems like a really bad idea that only the most gullible of people would fall for."

==Shinra Inc. And==

A week later Scarlet and Rufus were sipping tea in her office going over the expense reports for App Development. There was a line that was highlighted, underlined, circled, and had some tasteful insults thrown in the margin.

PRE-ORDER GROSS FUNDS: 1,244,765 gil

"So people really are dumb huh?" Rufus sighed.

"Yup, and the 'downloadable content' is coming too. We're charging half the cost of the game to get the second half of the game. It's fantastic!" Scarlet laughed.

"Man, players will just eat up whatever we throw at them, huh?"


End file.
